Research Guides: American Politics and US Government Research: US Political Races Research

News and Analysis Sources

Google News Alerts
Create a Google News alert for your candidate here. There is also a Google News app. In the app do a search for your candidate and then save that search.
Newspapers by State
Real Clear Politics
News and Polling aggregator with some original content from a broad range of perspectives.
Open Secrets
Analyses the impact of money in politics.

US News Sources from ZSR - Multi-Source Databases

America's News This link opens in a new window
America’s News features national, regional and local news content that delivers multiple perspectives from more than 3,650 U.S. news sources including the Winston-Salem Journal. Covers a range of popular topics including business, health, politics, careers, entrepreneurship and much more.
Ethnic NewsWatch This link opens in a new window
Contains the complete text of more than 250,000 articles, editorials, and reviews published in approximately 150 ethnic and minority newspapers, magazines, and journals published in the U.S. Coverage: 1995-
Newspaper Source Plus This link opens in a new window
Full text for many major U.S. and international newspapers, including the New York Times, Washington Post, San Francisco Chronicle, the London Times, and others. Also includes some television and radio news transcripts. Coverage: 1985-
Nexis Uni (Formerly LexisNexis Academic) This link opens in a new window
Nexis Uni features more than 15,000 news, business and legal sources. To limit your search to news - select that in the content type drop-down on the far right of the search box.
ProQuest Recent Newspapers This link opens in a new window
Contains 18 newspapers with coverage beginning in the late 2000s through present with a three-month embargo. Titles include Barron's, LA Times, Newsday, The Boston Globe, The Washington Post, and more.
U.S. Newsstream This link opens in a new window
Users can search current U.S. news content, as well as archives that stretch back into the 1980s. Provides key national and regional news sources from the U.S. and includes full text from The New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Boston Globe, Newsday, and Chicago Tribune.

Elections Data

MIT's Election Data Lab
Provides both research and datasets on elections in the US.

Voting and Elections This link opens in a new window
The Voting & Elections Collection from CQ Press contains in-depth data about U.S. Presidential, Congressional, and Gubernatorial campaigns and elections, historical and modern. Data export tools allow for customized data downloads for statistical analysis. Also includes information about voter demographics and political parties. Coverage: 1789-2012

American National Election Studies (ANES)
ANES produces high quality data from its own surveys on voting, public opinion, and political participation.

Polling Info and Data

Roper Center Public Opinion Archives This link opens in a new window
One of the world's leading archives of social science data, specializing in data from surveys of public opinion. Covers opinions on social issues, politics, pop culture, international affairs, and more. Most of the data are from the United States, but over 50 nations are represented. Coverage: 1935-present

Candidate/Race Information

Keeping Up With Your Races

The following sites will help you keep up with the races you are following. In addition to these, you should also be checking the main newspaper for the capitol of the state your race is in.

National Journal's Hotline
Hotline is a news site from National Journal with stories only about US elections. Covers national and state races.
UVA's Sabato's Crystal Ball
Sabato’s Crystal Ball is a comprehensive, nonpartisan political analysis and handicapping newsletter run by the University of Virginia Center for Politics. It keep tabs on presidential elections, along with every race for the U.S. Senate, House of Representatives, and state governor. Besides forecasting the winners, the Crystal Ball provides analysis of trends in American politics and elections.
Real Clear Politics
Provides news and data on elections.

Other Race Data

These sites provide data on races that could be important for researching political races.

National Journal Racetracker
You'll need to be on campus or using VPN to get the most from our access to this - but it lets you track individual races across the country.
Project VoteSmart
Biographies, speeches, positions, ratings, funding sources, etc. on elected officials and candidates for US national races.
Ballotpedia
Articles and information about races at all levels of government.
State Elections Offices
Federal Elections Commission Data
Data on campaign finances and donors.
Open Secrets
Tracks money in politics in the US.
ProPublica
Track what sitting members of congress say and do including how they vote.
National Council of State Legislatures
US Elections Web Archive
Archived copies of past candidate web sites.

District/State Information

NOTE ON 2022 DISTRICTS

Since 2022 is the first election after redistricting, many of our data sources will not have accurate district boundaries. You are looking for boundaries for the 118th Congress. This may make doing research on districts a bit trickier. Meet with Roz Tedford or Morgan Ritchie-Baum for help on doing data research on new districts!

2022 Almanac of American Politics
You can search for a particular district to get district information. It also has in-depth biographies of House and Senate members. Includes their committees, their areas of interest, their full staffs, and race information.
My Congressional District (Census)
Allows you to select a district and get data on that district.
US Census Bureau
Demographics, social data, employment, crime, etc.

Data Planet This link opens in a new window
With Data Planet, you can scan and search the contents of billions of datasets, compare and contrast variables of interest, and create customized views in tables, maps, rankings, and charts. Views also include descriptive summaries of the datasets and data sources. Coverage: Details not available
PolicyMap This link opens in a new window
PolicyMap lets you limit data by Congressional District (use the Boundaries tool). Then you can see a variety of data points relating to your district.

State Elections Offices

Rosalind Tedford

She/Her

Email Me

Contact:

ZSR Library
Room 457A

Subjects: American History, English Literature, Law, Political Science

American Politics and US Government Research: US Political Races Research

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